Mr. Midshipman Hornblower
by C. S. Forester
The year 1793 arrives on the eve of the Napoleonic Wars, and Horatio Hornblauer, a seventeen-year-old boy, not trained in navigation and the ways of sailors, receives an order to board a French merchant ship and take command of the crew and cargo to the glory of England. While not an undeniable feat, this first sea adventure teaches the young middle sailor enough to put him through an increasingly glorious array of achievements. This novel, in which the young Horatio puts his sea feet on the ground, proves his meticulousness and shows the productions of the legend he will transform, is the first of eleven hornblauer tales that are considered classic adventure stories about the sea today.
